Emma Potter and Joshua Jensen

Versatile French horn player and Arizona School for the Arts senior Emma Potter, 17, is joined by multiple-award winning pianist Joshua Jensen, 17, in the second Young Artists Concert of the 2017-18 season.

Saturday, November 18
4:00 PM

Emma Potter, 17, discovered the French horn in 4th grade after playing violin for two years, and never looked back.

Emma is in her 6th season with the Phoenix Youth Symphony (PYS), playing horn under the direction of Mr. Matthew Kasper, Associate Conductor of the Phoenix Symphony. She was one of the student-musicians who joined the MusicaNova Orchestra performance of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony in October, 2015.

A Senior at Arizona School for the Arts (ASA), she performs in the Northwinds Woodwind Quintet, ASA Brass Quintet, Chamber Winds, Chamber Orchestra, and String Quartet. Emma also enjoys playing in Regionals and All State festivals, which she has attended for the past five years.

Emma won first place in the PYS Young Musicians Concerto Competition for Senior Brass and second place in the AZ MusicFEst Annual Young Musician Competition for Brass/Woodwinds/Percussion. She was invited to participate in the AZ MusicFest Young Artists Concert and performed at the Musical Instrument Museum this past Spring.

In the summer of 2017, she was thrilled to attend Boston University Tanglewood Institute, participating in the Young Artists Orchestra, and enjoying the opportunity to study with members of the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops. In previous summers she attended Eastern Music Festival (EMF), the Lamont Summer Academy and Idyllwild Arts Academy.

Emma studies privately with Gabriel Kovach, Principal Horn of the Phoenix Symphony, and has had the privilege to take lessons from Julie Landsman, Jeff Lang, Andrew Bain, Danny Katzen and Thomas Jostlien.

Emma enjoys reading, watching Netflix, hanging out with friends and family and practicing while her three dogs join in with varying levels of enthusiastic howling and barking.

Emma’s Recital Program

Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 2 in E♭ Major, K. 417
I. Allegro maestoso

Kvandal: Salmetone

Ewazen: Concerto for Horn
I. Allegro risoluto

R. Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in E♭ Major, Op. 11
I. Allegro

With collaborative pianist Yeojin Seol

Joshua Jensen, 17, began studying piano when he was 11 years old. He’s dominated recent competitions, winning the 2017 Phoenix Symphony Guild Concerto Competition, the Steinway Avanti Competition, EVMTA Piano Competition, the Arizona Music Fest Competition, and the 2017 American Protégé Competition, where he will return for his second performance in Carnegie Hall this December 2017.

Joshua enjoys being educated at home with his four sisters and foster brother, and is looking forward to the birth of another brother at the end of May. Some of Joshua’s favorite composers are Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Bach, Kabalevsky, and Scriabin. He looks forward to a career in music and is grateful to his teacher and family who continue to support him every step of the way. He currently studies with Fei Xu at the New Century Conservatory.